Tag Archives: Provence

The French, bless them (some would say) are, according to their own PR though not through documentary evidence, good cooks and while you have to admit there have been one or two French chefs over the years who just happen to be good at what they do it doesn’t mean that the entire nation are good cooks, in fact the opposite is usually the case as the sign below suggests.

The sign also suggests something else about ‘pure’ French cooking, they do like knocking up dishes of slimy food, you know what I mean, Frogs legs and Snails come to mind here.

In my considered opinion, well I always consider my opinion, if you want really good French food then there is only one thing to be done and that is to go to Italy especially Tuscany where you will enjoy the sort of food that the French cook, but it will be cooked perfectly and flavoured beautifully.

Why do I say that most French food is really Italian, well it’s simple, the Romans (who were of course Italians) invaded France before it was called France and took their cuisine with them and like any people who like their food the French couldn’t get enough of the sort of provencal or country cooking that the Romans dished up daily.

Sadly people who want traditional provencal cooking think it best to go to Provence in France, they are mistaken it’s best to go to Tuscany instead.

Lastly on the subject of good cooks, did you know that the English word to ‘scoff’ (as in to eat a lot) is based on Auguste Escoffier’s name. Not only was he a man with a very big moustache but he was also a great cook who invented Peach Melba and Melba Toast though most of his career as a great chef was not spent in France, he mainly worked in London and Monaco.

About the Author

The Cat is one of the most successful feline authors in the history of Catkind. His sharp elegant wit has produced the bestselling book ‘Getting Out – Excerpts from a Cat’s Diary’ and of course the much plagiarised gag of the same name which appears on all of the funniest joke sites on the internet.

Copies of the Cat’s masterpiece of feline literature ‘Getting Out – Excerpts from a Cat’s Diary’ and his latest wonderful book ‘The Cat’s Travelogue’ can be purchased at a bookstore near you or from the internet at Amazon.com and here for the Travelogue The Cat’s Travelogue Paperback Edition or at what The Cat calls his www – wickedly wonderful website here www.thecatsdiary.com where you can not only learn more about me the genius Cat but also play my games they are all paw picked by me and have been described as “exactly what free on-line games should be, fun, free and fantastic.”

I would like to tell you all about something new and rather nice that you can get from the Apple iBooks store, no not ‘Getting Out – Excerpts from a Cat’s Diary’ and his latest wonderful book you have been able to get that for ages, no something else rather wonderful. You can get John Woodcock’s brilliantly illustrated book the first in the series called ‘The Trams of Prague’

This heavily illustrated books created especially for iPads, Pods and Phones called Tram No 6 is the Naughtiest of Trams and it looks amazing.

Here is a little treat for all of my lovely readers the photograph below was taken in a small restaurant in Nice, France.

What can I say? We all know that the French think that they are the best cooks in the world after they stole all of the Italian recipes in Provence but “Grilled Paving Stone” – no thanks I think that the Cat will pass on that thanks so what ever you do don’t order number 28 on this menu!

By the way have you noticed the number system on the menu, do you think that the number represent some sort of indication of how dangerous each dish is? Just a thought.

I know that a lot of my wonderfully loyal and extremely cuddly readers are waiting and in some cases clamouring for my next book and you will be pleased to hear that ‘The Travelogue’ is well on the way in fact I am just about to descend upon another unsuspecting country tee hee.